Romanians boycott the ‘referendum of hate’

A handout photo made available by the Romanian Orthodox Patriarchy agency - Basilica shows Romanian Patriarch Daniel, head of Romanian Orthodox Church, casts his ballot during the family re-definition referendum planned for this weekend, at a polling station in Bucharest, Romania, 6 October 2018. [Handout photo/EPA/EFE]

A referendum to change Romania’s constitution to prevent same sex couples from securing the right to marry failed to draw enough voters to validate the result on Sunday (7 October), after a campaign that led to a rise in hate speech against the gay community.

The vote has also been seen as popularity test of the ruling Social Democrat Party (PSD) that supported the change and whose attempts to weaken anti-corruption legislation have drawn criticism from the European Union’s executive.

Data from the national election bureau showed voter turnout stood at 20.4% when the polls closed at 1800 GMT, below the 30% required for it to be valid.

The two-day referendum, which cost €35 million, aimed to change the constitution to define marriage as strictly between a man and a woman from the current gender-neutral “spouses.”

Activists cheering in a pub in #Bucharest after the referendum on redefining family as uniin between man and woman failed get enough support. The vote meant to ban gay marriage was a total failure for #Romania’s powerful Orthodox Church. pic.twitter.com/xroHbzMxOp

Not too long ago, Romania was a country where voting was a mere impossibility. Romanian citizens did not enjoy this privilege. They could not make their voices heard and had no say on important aspects of their society. But things have changed in Romania, writes Adina Portaru.

The Coalition received backing from the Orthodox Church and other religions as well as all but one parliamentary parties.

“Romanians rejected being divided and hating each other, it is a victory for Romanian democracy and moreover, Romanians rejected the involvement of the Orthodox Church in the state’s secular affairs,” said Vlad Viski of LGBT rights group MozaiQ.

“We believe politicians must now legalize civil partnerships for same sex couples,” he said at a party to celebrate the outcome.

Dozens of human rights groups had said a successful referendum would embolden further attempts to chip away at the rights of minority groups and push Romania onto a populist, authoritarian track.

They have encouraged people to boycott the ballot, with several companies and popular musicians and artists following. A library chain even offered a book discount over the weekend for those who wanted to stay in and read rather than vote.

In villages across the country, people were quoted saying they had better things to do, such as canning food and making wine.

“The PSD staked everything on the referendum, by associating with it and trying to capitalize on it,” said Sergiu Miscoiu, a political science professor at Babes-Bolyai University.

“What remains is the fact that many citizens have associated the initiative with the PSD and that is why they boycotted it. Either way, it is a major sanction against the government.”

Senior PSD member Codrin Stefanescu accused opposition parties and centrist President Klaus Iohannis of misinforming Romanians in the run-up to the vote.

PSD leader Liviu Dragnea, whose appeal against a criminal conviction in an abuse of office case starts on Monday, told reporters after voting “Yes” to the change on Saturday that Romanians had to decide the kind of country they wanted.

The Social Democrats in the European Parliament have lashed out against Romania’s Prime Minister Viorica Dăncilă over the upcoming referendum in the country that seeks to ban same-sex marriage, saying such ideas do not belong to the socialist family, EURACTIV.com has learnt.

“We all know that for years we’ve been told others know what is best for us better than we do. I believe it is time we decide what kind of society and country we want to have and how we want to live in our country,” Dragnea said.

Days before the vote, the government relaxed anti-fraud monitoring and limited options for challenging the result.

Romania ranks 25th out of 28 EU states based on legislation, hate speech and discrimination against LGBT people, an annual study by ILGA-Europe, an umbrella organization advocating equality, showed.

MEPs from across the political spectrum have urged Romania’s parliament not to organise a referendum that could make gay marriage impossible under a revised constitution. EURACTIV Romania reports.

Positions

Leading S&D MEPs have welcomed the fact that the referendum to change the definition of marriage in the Romanian constitution failed to gain the necessary support to pass. The referendum was on changing the definition from the neutral ‘spouses’ to one between a man and woman only.

S&D Group President Udo Bullmann said:

“This result shows that the vast majority of the Romanian population have no interest in seeing the country discriminate against same sex couples. The proposed change to the constitution would have been a clear backwards step for LGBTI rights and we are glad that this intolerant idea of family did not receive the support of Romanian citizens. What should matter in a marriage is who you love, not what gender they are.

“Our Group has always been at the forefront of the fight for LGBTI rights and we will speak out whenever we see these under threat. We hope the Romanian government will listen to voters and focus on the issues they care most about. We also encourage the government to come forward with the draft for civil partnership that is in preparation.

“We have long argued that all EU member states need to recognise civil partnerships and same-sex marriages, so citizens have their status and rights protected when they move to another EU country. This is a clear bar to free movement of people that the EU has a duty to tackle.”

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Comments

3 responses to “Romanians boycott the ‘referendum of hate’”

This was a strike at Dragnea by local PSD branches who are opposing him. Don’t think they’re the good guys, the PSD is at least 95% crooked and psychopathic.

Since Dragnea stole from the national budget and from EU funds and didn’t share the “prey” with local PSD branches, he lost a lot of support within the party.

So the local PSD refused to mobilize the state-dependent people to vote in Dragnea’s referendum of hate against gays and the EU, which was going to be changed last-second to be a referendum for support for Dragnea if it had been successful <- that's why the question was so vague.

I just wish the PSD and the Church disappeared forever, they're both unbelievably corrupt and greedy and they're the source of most problems in Romania.

Traditional marriage was invented to bound a man to a woman to make sure he would work to support his wife and children.
The alternative for the woman would have been destitution.

Marriage today is outdated because of welfare programs, condoms and job opportunities for women that didn’t exist in the past.

But gay marriage is has no meaning either way, a man never gets pregnant.
Gay marriage seems just intended to make a travesty of traditional social organization.
In that way gay marriage is an act of hate, it shows contempt for people who still believe state socialism is unjust.

Maybe modern citizens are simply fed up with the idea of “traditional social organization”, Johan. Even 80% of Romanians seem to not give a flying toss about your deranged ideas. So perhaps better to get with the times?